Center Betim Bujari learned the game of football along with his family

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The approval that Rutgers center Betim Bujari needed from his parents to be allowed to play football came at a relatively young age, but not in the usual way.

Albanian immigrants who were unfamiliar with the sport, Petrit and Sevdziyan Bujari initially saw football as something that resembled organized mayhem — bodies flying, lots of physical contact. Much too rough and tumble for their two boys.

"When my brother and I first started playing football, my mom and dad were completely against it," said Bujari. "They were wondering ‘What’s going on here? These guys are just banging their heads into each other.’

"Of course, when you don’t understand the sport you just see contact everywhere."

That changed abruptly one day, Bujari sheepishly confessed.

"My mom told me she thought I looked really cute when I was younger in the equipment," he said.

Bujari, all grown up now at 6-4, 295, is in his second year as the Scarlet Knights’ starting center, the only member of a rebuilt offensive line to be returning to the same position he started at a year ago.

And after just that one season — at a position he’d never played before college — he is already drawing attention, having been named to the watch list for the Rimington Trophy, which honors the nation’s top center.

The thing is, his parents understand the significance of that.

"My mom loves (football) now," said Bujari, a fourth-year junior who starred at Secaucus High School. "She’s getting to understand it. And I have an aunt who knows nothing about it, but she just loves it, loves coming to Rutgers (for games) and brings all the kids and everything."

Bujari’s dad, meanwhile, brought himself up to speed quickly.

"My father is really big-time into it," Bujari said. "Now he’s coaching me up. He loves the atmosphere at Rutgers."

But that took time, Bujari acknowledged.

Asked when his parents really started to get a handle on the game, he said, "It took them until my freshman year."

In high school?

"No. College," he said.

Bujari, Brooklyn-born, said he is approaching this season differently from any other he has played. Assured of a starting job, he is also in a leadership role because of his experience — more so with newcomers Keith Lumpkin (left tackle) and Chris Muller (right guard) having never started before.

"I’ve got to step up," said Bujari. "I hold myself accountable more than I did last year because it’s my second year starting and I’m at the same position. I have some younger guys around me now, like Chris Muller, and I have some guys in new positions with (guard) Kaleb Johnson on my left.

"So I feel a responsibility to be a leader."

Rutgers coach Kyle Flood said there’s a certain comfort level now with Bujari, especially with so much uncertainty with the revamped starting unit.

"As an offensive line coach, the center is always the most important guy because he is the one who assures that everyone is on the same page and Betim has really done a good job of that this summer in training camp," Flood said.

But any criticisms Flood might have pale when compared with when Bujari calls or visits home these days.

"I don’t have to do as much explaining anymore," he said. "I do more listening now."